Ivy Potter
by Viniana
Summary: An average reader of the HP books finds herself reborn in HP world. And if this wasn't bad enough, then to find out your brother being The Harry Potter himself… Well, your life is never going to be dull and free of danger again, that's for sure. Warnings: OC, maybe OOC. M raiting just in case.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I completely acknowledge that JKR created this world and everything in it. Because if it was up to me, Hedwig, Fred and Severus would have lived. And pairing would have been not HG but HD.

A/N: This fic is my first attempt at writing, so don't expect anything grand. And I'm sure there'll be some mistakes, considering it being not my first language. I especially have problem with Times, commas and a/the. So if you want to point out any mistakes, feel free. Also I write very slowly, so I'm not sure when will be the next update.

Warnings: hmmm, I can't really think of anything… M rating just in case

Pairings: almost all canonish even if it pains me to see Harry with Ginny

* * *

My family was as normal and ordinary as you can find, thank you very much.

I had a father, a mother and a little brother, was not mistreated in any way, and led a very boring life. So you see the picture – nothing interesting ever happened to me… and then I died. Yeah, you heard right. I bloody died. And of course it couldn't have been a heroic or epic death. Well, you know, me saving some kitty from a tree or me crashing in some plane – though we already established that I was a simple girl, so I never even flew anywhere before in my life. Nooo, I was just clumsy enough to miss a bloody step while going upstairs and to break my bloody neck. Yes, very anticlimactic.

What I was trying to say all this time is that my existence should have ended right then and there. And instead it only began.

* * *

Being reborn was the most uncomfortable and terrifying feeling, that's for sure. Ending dead was very peaceful; all that darkness…calmness…quietness… And then, suddenly, coming into bright reality full of different noises and scents and to add a very bad baby-vision... Yeah, that was quite a shock… It took me some time to calm down, I'm not proud of it. Then again, I was a toddler: I could allow myself to cry a little… or a lot… But that's not a point here.

After that I started to pay attention to the world around me. Ears, after all, were the next best source of information considering my eyesight at that moment. What I did find at first alarmed me a little: it's not every day that you find yourself reborn in another country (of course it's not every day you're reborn at all…) but I placated myself with the knowledge that my English was while not the best, was not the worst one either.

It took me some time but I figured out that my name was Ivy and I seemed to have a twin whose name was Harry. From what I understood my new mother Lily was staying in hospital for few extra days because they were not expecting my birth and it disturbed them a little. They wanted to check something for something… Yeah-yeah, you caught me: I'm not the best one in medicine… but as I was saying… I didn't actually put clues together until my new father James was allowed to visit. Anyway, you can't really blame me, my eyes were becoming better, so my pretending at least on some level that this was not happening was coming to an end. Now I was able to see me eating, me burping, and that meant that when the time came to do – ah, how to say this – my stuff, I would be able to see how a grown-up woman cleans up after me…oh, the mental scarring, the embarrassment… of course, I easily solved this problem by closing at such moments eyes but you have to understand how taxing it was to have this possibility to even exist. Obviously, I later found out that my mom didn't need to use hands for such tasks. But anyway, that day Lily, like always, was having a baby-talk with us, and I, like always, was turning her out – having to hear how cute you are about hundred times a day can really get on your nerves – when I heard father's name.

'…ames today, that's your daddy. Harry here has him as a middle name,' she said and started lightly tickling him. 'Right, Harry? Right!' When he made some cooing sounds, which she thought were good enough for an answer, came my turn. 'And Ivy here has mommy's name, right, Ivy?'

I quickly made some noise in agreement, so that she would move on. I wanted to hear the end of this speech.

'Right! As mommy was saying, your daddy wrote that he can visit today. Those bad doctors didn't let him come before, didn't they? Yes, they did. So he and you only met once, when you were born. But now he and his friends…'

Turning her out again, I tried to remember this meeting. I didn't manage. My memory was kind of fuzzy then. But that was understandable, because I was only born then. Ok, so I would see my new father soon. That would be interesting. I wanted to know how he looks like. So far my mother was a beautiful woman: she had thick, dark red hair and the greenest eyes I have ever seen – I quiet liked them.

Spending the rest of time in a daze, I perked up only when mum started showing signs of excitement. I heard some hints of commotion in the corridor and was startled when the door burst open.

'Lily-flower! Your wayward husband is heeere!'

In the door stood tall man with unruly black hair, glasses over his hazel eyes askew – but that's not what caught my attention – in his palm was some sort of stick, a very elegant-looking one. You could see that it was very cared-after. Strange, why would someone care about a stick? It reminded me a little about – but no, it was a stupid thought…

'Wormy couldn't come and Padfoot and Moony had to - '

What they had to do I didn't hear, because at that moment I was having a mental breakdown: it's not every day you find such big news. My god! So that stick was a wand, my mother was a witch, my father – a wizard, and my brother – the fucking CHOSEN ONE! I needed to calm down. Breathe in and out. IN and OUT! Ok-ok, one thing at a time. Though how I didn't notice my mother's wand before… NO! Right now I was meeting my father and his friends. That's on what I will concentrate. About hows, whys and implications of me in this world I would think later.

Relaxing a little with having some semblance of a plan, I at last look around to become aware of my mother nearing my crib.

'Want to hold your daughter?' asked Lily, though I was sure, she had already decided to put me in his arms.

'I'm not sure that's the best idea. What if I dropped her? And besides she is so tiny - '

His stammering came to an end when Lily positioned me in his arms, correcting his hold on my body along the way.

'Oh, stop being such a baby! Everything will be alright. Don't forget that I'm here in case you need help,' she said and went to check on Harry, leaving my poor father to marvel at me.

'She is beautiful…'

His voice full of awe and admiration lifted my mood a little. It's always good to feel appreciated. Seems like I was going to be a daddy's girl. Arrival of new visitors grubbed my attention.

'Prongs, where did you run off?! You could have waited for us – Oh, Evans! Hi! Haven't wilted here yet?' Sirius, a young handsome black-haired man, couldn't be serious long enough if an exasperated look thrown his way by a pale and tired, though still good-looking Remus said anything.

'Sirius, be nice,' he said in the voice of a person who said this phrase too often to believe in it usefulness and then more warmly addressed. 'Hello, Lily. You look good.'

'Sirius, Remus,' she acknowledged both men. 'Nice to see you too. And really, when will you stop calling me Evans?' Weary look told me that this question was asked many times and that she already knew the answer to it-

'Never,' cheerfully stated Sirius, not paying any attention to the frustrated glances of Lily and Remus. 'So where is my godson? I want to look at the new Marauder.'

'Sirius, we discussed this many times: you can't be sure that you are his godfather. For all you-'

'Actually, Padfoot is right.' 'Ha, see!' 'Sorry, Moony,' made himself known remaining motionless till now James not sounding very sorry at all.

'James is telling the truth but you have a godchild too, Remus,' she motioned with her head at me. Lupin didn't look very happy with this news. Hey! I'm not that bad! Well, I think so…

'I don't think that's a good idea. I may not be the best godfather for a girl…' Lily huffed, then-

'You can take him, Sirius. But be careful,' depositing Harry in the arms of suddenly nervous and not very sure of himself dogfather at all, she than took me from James and neared on werewolf. 'You listen to me! You are a good, kind and brilliant man. I will not see you putting yourself down like this! You are going to be the best godfather for this girl! Understand?! Now, hold her!' and without waiting for protests she put me in his arms. He looked at me with astonishment and wonderment, his hold on me gentle and very careful. I smiled ad him. Yes, that was the day I found about fictional world being not so fictional and met my crazy new family for the first time.

Later that day, while lying in my crib and listening to the soft breathing of my twin, I tried to imagine what would happen in the future if I were to somehow change something. Frankly, I frightened myself.

I only-only came to grips with the thought of being reborn, to find out that it was not a normal universe but a magical one (about which you read and reread so many times…) was hard enough. Then to figure out that maybe you can change future and save some lives – No! No, too much responsibility. I didn't like to have any kind of this duty. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if my attempts helped one person but killed another. The thing with HP world was it being built on the very unstable ground of strings of coincidences and changeable Lady Luck.

Sooo, one step at a time. Right now I needed to be able to pass for a toddler. Fortunately, I had a sibling: he was going to be my measuring stick for quite some time. And with heavy head full of thoughts I didn't want to have I went to sleep. My life in this household was only beginning.

* * *

A/N: So that's it. My first chapter. Do review please if you can. I'll appreciate it very much.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I completely acknowledge that JKR created this world and everything in it.

* * *

It really made my day when we were free to go home. I wanted to see what was going to be my new house and how my living there would play out. Of course, seeing a magic household may have taken a part in my eagerness as well. The Potters' residence wasn't very big and looked comfortable enough. The cottage had four bedrooms: one for my parents, one where Harry and I slept and two for visitors (usually some of Marauders, though, I'm sure, in time one would have been mine or Harry's).

My father worked as an Auror, so often the one who stayed with us was mum. As far as I understood she was some kind of a researcher, so it wasn't really a problem for her. But if she and father couldn't, for some reason, stay with us – don't forget about the Order - we were left with Uncle Padfoot or Uncle Moony. Undeniably they liked to visit us from time to time just for the sake of visiting us too. Sirius also often came with new toys for us to play. I rather liked those toys – after all they were magical. Playing with them was entertaining, even for an adult like me. In my previous life I didn't have staffed animals that could move just like real ones, or books with moving pictures. Harry obviously liked to put those toys in his mouth. Remus clearly couldn't afford to buy new toys so habitually, but his visits I liked even more. He knew a lot of stories, not including the Tales of Beedle the Bard. I would sit on his knees and pay attention to his deep, soothing voice, marveling at all the tales he told. Alas, my dear brother wasn't such a good listener – his attention span was very short at that point – so if he didn't fall asleep, then he would lose interest very quickly and find something else to do.

Another person for a babysitter was old Bathilda Bagshot. She liked to come for tea and to dote on us very much. Not surprisingly she liked gossiping too. And considering the fact that Lily was the only witch close enough who listened to her – well… Once we even stayed with Longbottoms. Neville was cute.

Thankfully, my parents never did consider Peter as a suitable babysitter. Him I saw very rarely and he tried to stay away from us – I think he was a little afraid of us or something. Not everyone can be good with kids, after all. But he brought some toys for us too. So I didn't know what to make of him. Though I was sure that he was passing information away to Voldemort already. Peter was a spy in the Order my parents sometimes talked about. I considered how to expose him sometimes, but the only way that came to mind was to show his Mark. And I wasn't sure he had it yet. He wasn't edgy about his elbow. And I even saw him only in his T-shirt once. So I waited.

Meanwhile I was also following Harry's progress and also training myself to move little by little. Because while I wanted to speak and walk or even just crawl and knew how to do it, it didn't mean that my body had this knowledge too. So it was a very long process.

And then came teething. Some babies are fussy when it happens. I'll tell you why – this is because of soreness and swelling in the gums! I never wanted to experience this ever again. Thanks God for magic! When Lily noticed my discomfort, with a simple wave of wand she somehow relieved the pressure in my gums. Regrettably, she couldn't stop the drooling during teething, only vanish it afterwards. It was embarrassing if I looked the way my sibling looked. And he didn't have a pleasant face then.

Our first words actually happened on Christmas. Lily, distraught over the letter sent by her sister and not very happy with a vase sent along, went to the kitchen to feed Cat and consequently to have some time alone. Yes, we did have a cat by the name of Cat. And boy, did she have an attitude! But I digress… Harry and I were on the floor on the blanket playing with our new presents. Harry, who received some new things he didn't know about before and, as a result, wanted to show them off, was upset when he didn't find the person of interest, which was our mother. Naturally, he decided to call for her attention. Rather loudly.

'Mama!'

Suddenly James and Sirius forgot all about their grown-up talks and crowded my brother demanding he say 'Daddy' or 'Padfoot'. Rapidly erasing any thoughts about letters, sisters and cats from her mind, Lily ran back into the living room and praised her 'little mama's boy'. Bewildered at first by such reaction, my brother quickly decided that he liked all this attention and preened under it.

Lily, meanwhile… 'Who won? Who is the best parent?' 'Mama!' 'Right, Harry,' Lily was showing off winning some kind of bet, it seems.

'So what!' huffed disgruntled-looking James. 'We still have another child. You will see! Next time first word will be 'daddy' and I will be the best parent!'

'Oh, we will see, I'm sure,' mockingly assured him Lily. Sirius was laughing his ass off at the situation. James and Lily looked ready to start another disagreement and only Remus, like the mature adult that he was, didn't participate in any of this and cradled me in his arms from the very beginning and tried to entertain me and keep me from feeling neglected. Of course it didn't mean that I felt neglected… or jealous… or abandoned… But just to express the gratitude for being such a good uncle (and not out of spite at all, I swear) I decided on my first words.

'Unca Moony,' I giggled prettily. Silence.

* * *

While the time of my and Harry's birthday was nearing, dark aura was enclosing Wizarding World more and more. Sirius and Remus were appearing less and less, and when they did come they usually looked too tired to play with us. Wormtail looked nervous and haggard the few times I saw him. And on the weekend before my birthday I was pretty sure that he had taken Mark: he seemed down and kind of sad. For a moment I even felt pity for him – he was a friend of Marauders; he must have been good at least at the very beginning to befriend them – but then I remembered what he was going to do and any trace of pity was gone. Lily noticed his behavior too, but chalked it up to the death of McKinnons. She herself cried all evening when she heard this news.

We had a very quiet birthday tea with my parents and old Bathy. Others were unable to attend because of some Order business. But they did send presents. I rather liked Sirius's gift to Harry. Though I only managed to try it out later, I had a lot of fun watching Harry fly on the broom or – should I say? – his futile attempts to kill Cat, on the way breaking a vase – Petunia's old present – and evading James's efforts to catch him. By how much she laughed, I could safely assume that Lily enjoyed the show too. And old Bathy went as far as to capture this moment on photo. Afterwards, when house was fireproofed and Harry had his fun again, I gave flying a go too. Considering that I had never flown in any of my lives, I was really anxious. In the end, Potter's gens won out and I had a lot of fun as well. Thanks God!

That evening lifted the mood in our house a little. James felt better, I was sure. Since we went into hiding in the middle of June, he was taking this especially hard. He was the man of action, sitting in one place, waiting for who-knows-what and only rarely being able to come out and participate in raids wasn't really helping his mood. Situation only worsened when Dumbledore asked for Invisibility Cloak. Now he couldn't even have his little outings. I think, that evening reminded him why he was doing it, what he was trying to protect… and of course we can't forget the possibility of his children being great Quidditch players in the future! Lily on the other hand was more used to always staying at home, being the researcher, and she at least had an everyday visitor in old Bathilda (one of very few who knew about cottage's location). But that evening improved her mood too. I should have known it wouldn't last.

* * *

That day was coming and I didn't have any opportunity to flash the Rat out. Since that weekend he didn't come at the cottage anymore. Oooh, I'm sure that he was meeting our parents but he never visited us, children, anymore. Guilty conscious, I suppose… Yeah, right.

Sirius and Remus, every chance I got to meet them, looked worn-out and the former, more often than not, even injured. I think, many Death Eaters guessed about the possibility of him being Secret-Keeper. That made him a prime target.

So the day was tomorrow and I didn't know if they changed Secret-Keeper or even when they decided to do it. It must have happened the day before Halloween or on that same day. And not earlier because nobody knew about changing the keeper apart from Sirius and Peter. And Dumbledore or Bathilda (who lived nearby) wouldn't have noticed that they forgot the location only if the enchantment was destroyed soon after. Like the next or same day in explosion which destroyed Voldemort as well. Not really knowing what to do, I went to sleep that night with a heavy heart.

October 31 wasn't very eventful on the whole. We like always spent most of our time at home. James only went away for a while – some Order business, I think – while Lily stayed with us.

Later that evening Lily bathed us, closed us in pajamas and left us with James to finish her latest research. Something with blood magic… We were in the sitting room and father tried to entertain us by making puffs of coloured smoke appear from his wand. Harry liked it and was trying to catch it in his hands, but I wasn't in the mood for laughing so I pretended to be engrossed in my drawing. I noticed that Lily left her wand on the table – really, what research was she doing without a wand? – so while James was occupied I snatched it and hid it under my clothes. I was in time because Lily came just after that.

'Ok, playtime is over,' she said, scooping me up. 'Everything was alright?' inquired she.

'Yep, they behaved like angels,' answered James, handing Harry to her.

'Thanks, I will go put them to bed. You can rest for tonight,' and we left sitting room.

We were already on the stairs when we heard some commotion downstairs and then –

'Lily, take children and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!'

'Oh no! No-no-no-no-NO!' chanted Lily, nearly crying, as she ran upstairs. Closing the door to the bedroom she concentrated and tried Apparating. Crying out in frustration and fright, when she was unable to do it (must be anti-Apparation wards), she put us in the crib and tried to think of something, realizing at last that she was trapped. Not coming up with anything worthwhile she screamed in frustration and started barricading the door with anything that came under her hands.

'Mummy'

She didn't stop. Thinking that maybe she didn't hear me I called louder.

'Mummy!'

'Sorry, sweetie. Mummy's busy,' not looking at me, with an edge in her voice, she answered. Stressed and aggravated, I, at last, said the magic word.

'Wand!'

This brought her attention and when she saw the said object in my hand, she quickly abandoned futile attempts to close the door.

'Me clever girl!' she sobbed, taking wand from me, kissed us both, told us _I love you!_ and went back to securing the entrance, only this time with magic. When Lily thought that she had done all she could, she returned to us, kneeled by our crib and attempted to placate us and by extension herself.

'Everything will be alright. Mummy won't let the bad man do anything. You will live to be all old and wrinkle. Everything will be okay. I will make sure…' Not really understanding the situation, Harry nonetheless smiled at her and wanting to lift her spirits a bit I smiled too. Looking at our smiling faces was too much for her though and she started crying. 'My beautiful children… my darlings…'

She knew that even with wand she would not be able to do much. While Lily was the smartest witch of her age, she really didn't have anything against Voldemort, a genius who had studied magic for at least 50 years and tapped in the darkest secrets of it.

The door burst open. Lazily waving wand to cast aside hastily piled furniture, Voldemort at last stepped in the room. Well… wasn't he a picture: pale, gaunt-looking, already without hairs. And those red glowing eyes. At the sight of him she quickly stood up and drew her wand, but with a swift _Expelliarmus_ lost it.

Having nothing but herself she threw her arms wide, as if shielding us from sight would help, as if she hoped that he would forget and kill her instead… But yes, she did hope to be killed the first, didn't she? The research she was doing… it must have been connected somehow with a sacrifice… but that's not all - I'm sure, there were other mothers who gave their lives for their babies… I didn't know.

'Not Harry, not Ivy, please not them!'

'Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now.'

'Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-'

'This is my last warning-'

'Not Ivy! Please… have mercy… have mercy… Not them! Not Harry! Please- I'll do anything-'

'Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!'

Of course she didn't listen. And when he pointed his wand, I knew that this was the end. The green light flashed around the room and Lily, the bright caring woman that I loved and saw as my mother, dropped without uttering a sound.

Standing there and clutching bars of the crib, I seemed to be unable to contemplate what had just happened. It was stupid – I knew that this was coming months before this day, tried to prepare myself for this possibility – but seeing this coming to pass with my own eyes, understanding that she… I couldn't move, couldn't think. I saw everything in slow motion: Voldemort pointing his wand into Harry's face; Harry finally understanding that something wasn't right and starting to cry; those pale lips moving, forming the cursed words; a lot of green light and then – nothing.

* * *

My first awakening didn't last very long.

'Poor babies – c-c-can't believe – I gotta take – orders – '

Through the haze of pain I heard the roaring of motor and the howling similar to that of a wounded dog. I couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow important and – I lost the consciousness again.

Next time I woke up I felt a lot better. Well I was still in pain but at least my body didn't ache as though it had been beaten. Attempting to block it out, I concentrate on the world around me.

'Thanks fer healing them, Madam.'

'It was nothing. Poor kids went through so much – i-i-it was the least I c-c-could have done –'

'Yeah… S-s-sorry, I need ter take them – Dumbledore's orders – '

Abruptly it all came to me. Voldemort. Mum died. And Sirius should have… Oh, no! First time I woke up, he was there with Hagrid! And I didn't stop him! He went after Peter and would end up in Azkaban and I didn't even have enough presence of mind to stop him. I hoped that if something like this occurred I at least would have stopped him when he was lending his bike to Hagrid. And now his fate was to rot in prison for the crime he never committed. I hated fate.

Opening eyes I registered at last that I was lying in the bundle of blankets. Snugged closely to me was sleeping Harry. Seemed like we were flying to the Dursleys. Inspecting my unfortunate brother and finding no untoward injures except for this blasted scar I relaxed a little. Suddenly all the events crashed on me and, tired, I decided to follow my sibling's example. I fall asleep to the sound of motor's rumbling wishing for tomorrow to never come.

* * *

A/N: Another chapter. It took me some time to work out how events should proceed but that's it. Do review please


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I completely acknowledge that JKR created this world and everything in it.

* * *

Regrettably tomorrow did come – with the screeching of Aunt Petunia – as well as came the next ten years. Those were awful years, although I tried to soften them a little for Harry.

I taught him how to ride a bicycle, when he was five and Dudley got his first bike. We had to do it at night while Dursleys were asleep, but Harry enjoyed it all the same. I answered all his questions that Dursleys wouldn't. Hardest were questions about our parents. I said that our dad wore glasses and his hair was black, just like ours; mum had dark red hairs and that I remembered her eyes being the same shade as ours. This knowledge I chalked up to my super cool memory and Harry, being the little gullible thing that he was, believed me. I tried to take more dangerous chores in the house, like cooking, because, clearly, letting a child to a stove was not one of Aunt Petunia's brightest ideas. In the end he still had to learn how to cook, but I'm sure he did it a lot more lately than in the first reality, and I actually supervised the whole process so he wouldn't be injured. I didn't trust Aunt Petunia with this.

For the first few years we slept in the cupboard under the stairs. When we were six I thought enough was enough and resolved to make them transfer us to a room.

'Aunt Petunia, we are already six, right?' I started a conversation one morning. Harry stopped eating for a second to give me a brief glance, curious about what I was doing. He knew me well enough to figure out that I was planning something.

'Yes, don't be stupid,' she snapped, then added. 'And don't ask questions!' Dursleys' favourite catchphrase. Obviously, it didn't stop me.

'That means that we are bigger, than when we were five,' slowly explained I as if I was talking to a five-year-old myself.

'Stop bothering your Aunt, girl! Say what you mean already!' lost patience Uncle Vernon, though I really doubt he had it in the first place.

'Well, I just thought that maybe you can give us a room, now that we are bigger?' I inquired innocently.

'You – How dare you –' he started, his face going through different colours. Not a very pleasant sight, I tell you. 'We took you in when your sorry excuses of parents died, raised you, clothed you, feed you – and that's how you thank us – Making such demands!'

Yes, they took us, but I don't know what he means by raising us, because he didn't take any significant part in doing this. They clothed us in old clothes – Harry wore Dudley's baggy ones, I wore some old Petunia and Lily's clothes from their childhood – and as for feeding… They tried at first to give us smaller portions or withhold food in place of punishment, but after I made all sorts of accidental magic happen and they managed to connect it with us having not enough food (believe me, it took them a lot of time), they never attempted to do it again. Punishment involved us being locked up or doing more chores. Really, with such treatment we were entitled to our own room.

'But Dudley has two rooms. Surely, he can – '

'Dudley is a growing boy with many needs! He requires space for his things!' butted in Aunt while her walrus of husband tried to regain his breathing. He needed to lay off the fast food; it was bad for his health… On second thought, he should eat it a lot more. Maybe one of these days he will keel over. Ah, I wish…

'I see…' I sighed sadly as if giving up. Then I pulled a thoughtful face. 'Though that's _strange_. I asked other children, and they all have their own rooms. And me and Harry don't. It's _weird, odd_ even. But I'm sure there's _normal_ explanation. I'll ask teachers tomor – '

'You! Both! Go to your cupboard. Now!'

Later that day we were moved upstairs.

* * *

Harry hunting still existed even if this time around it was called Twin hunting. But catching us was much harder than if it was only Harry. We were small and fast and Dudley's gang was stupid. All we had to do was to run in different directions and they had a hard time deciding where to go: after me or Harry.

Aunt Marge isn't even worth mentioning. She was a bitch. That's all I can say.

Strange things still happened to Harry. But now he could share it with me, so he didn't feel like such a freak and abnormality. It was our own little secret. Personally, I liked doing this little trick with petals of flowers; opening and clothing them and levitating the flower itself. Harry just copied me and did the same. But we didn't do it very often; Dursleys, after all, didn't like anything strange.

And so years went by. And finally it was Dudley's birthday.

'Up! Get up! Now!'

What a better way to wake up than to the dulcet tones of my Aunt's voice.

'Up! I want one of you to look after the bacon. And don't burn it, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday!'

Harry groaned.

'What did you say?' she snapped through the door.

'Nothing, nothing…'

Smooth, very smooth, oh brother of mine. Slowly getting up, I putted on glasses and started looking for my clothes. Harry mirrored me.

'Morning.'

'Yeah…'

'It's your turn to cook today.'

'Right…'

He is very active in the morning, isn't he? Not that I could say anything, I was the same way. It was merely the date that got me so lively.

'Need help?'

'Nah, I got it. Listen, I had this cool dream…'

Absently listening to his description of it, I dressed, and then we went downstairs into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's presents. Clearly he got all he wanted and didn't need. Dudley hated exercises or anything close to it: so why did he want a bike?

Dursleys' logic was a mystery to me. They wanted to appear as a normal and boring family. Then why inform their neighbors that your nephews were criminals-in-making? Why give us hand-me-downs as if they don't have money while their son wore perfectly normal clothes? It would have been easier to buy few cheap clothes and tell everyone that we were just your average kids, not interesting at all. This way they wouldn't look weird and strange, like they did now. But what do I know, really. Note the sarcasm.

To pass the time I stated laying the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Then I waited. Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. He barked his usual morning unpleasantness and sat down with newspaper. Harry was finishing cooking by the time Dudley arrived. Breakfast proceed with Dudley showing inability to count, him throwing tantrum over simple matter, like our presence on his trip, and his parents condoning such behavior.

And now we were on our way to the zoo. Harry and I were exited. My brother had never been to one before; I, alternatively, was in one a veeery long time ago. This time Harry didn't mention any flying motorbikes considering he already told me about his dream in the morning.

Once there we ensured to stay away as far from Dudley and Piers as possible. I could see that Harry was delighted – after all the day wasn't going very bad: we managed to receive ice-creams, shared Dudley's Knickerbocker glory and compared some animals to Dursleys.

After lunch we went to the reptile house. This time, if Harry was going to talk to snake, I wanted to be on lookout. But I just had to lose concentration. It was really strange to see snake doing such odd moving: winking, nodding, showing with its tail a little sign next to the glass. And of course this was funny because Harry asked these questions not even thinking that it's weird. I could understand why he thought so this time (he lived with me after all), but why didn't he wonder about it first time around? He was a weird one; I snickered good naturally to myself.

So Piers's shout caught me by surprise. Then came Dudley and punched Harry out of the way causing him to fall. What came next was unexpected to everyone but me, though it did look unbelievable – one second the glass was there, the next, it disappeared and the snake was free.

As it slid swiftly past Harry and me, I could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, ':Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo.:'

And now that I thought about it… Didn't I understand Harry's talking, when I should have heard only hissing? It put me in some kind of shock. I couldn't be a horcrux, right? I didn't have any cursed scars. I'm sure I would have noticed one by now. It must be something else.

While we were driving home, I formed a few theories.

It's highly possible, that Slytherin family produced squibs and disowned them. They married a muggle, had a muggle for a child and so on and on until Lily was born. And not one of them could speak snake language, but they all carried gen for it. And when we were born some special requirements were met and now we could talk to snakes. Or something along those lines happened in James's family. I heard about this phenomenon somewhere in my previous life, though I wasn't sure if I was right. Another possibility is that when Voldemort almost died, one part went into Harry and the other, while fleeing, went through me and, I dunno, imprinted somehow on me ability to talk to snakes.

…clearly, I read too much fanfics in my previous life.

Or, of course, it could be that I'm just that awesome!

Calming myself down, I was in time to catch the moment of Piers giving Harry's ability to talk to snakes away. What a bastard! Uncle Vernon waited until this rat was safely out of the house before starting on us. It occurred every time something strange had happened to one of us. We were always blamed together. He managed to say, "Go — bedroom — stay," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy. Drunkard. But this time he didn't dare to forbid us from eating. My presence already was changing things, even if they were small.

* * *

We lay in our room much later, discussing what had happened today.

'Did you see that snake? Did you?' Harry could be very energetic if he put his mind to it. Where all children like this? I signed heavily.

'Yes, oh brother of mine, I did. I was there, remember? And now that you reminded me… Are you alright? Do you have any bruises? Dud can be very careless –'

'Nah, I'm fine! It's nothing serious!' he impatiently interrupted me. 'You better say… Did you see that glass! It was really strange. One moment it's there and next, like - well like – like not there at all!'

'Yeah-yeah, it was something,' I deadpanned. Clearly, he wanted to talk about it. 'And now we are punished for this.'

'Ah, right. Sorry about this,' said suddenly more subdued Harry. Feeling bad for ruining atmosphere, I tried to lift his spirit.

'It's not your fault that our Uncle is such an idiot. And think about it; maybe this snake is already on her way to Brazil!' I very much doubted it. I'm sure staff in the zoo already caught this poor reptile. But who am I to ruin child's illusions.

'True! It was really lonely there. All alone and nowhere to go. I at least have you here.'

'Yep! And hey, maybe our punishment will be to stay in this room till summer holidays!' I hated school – always had to dumb myself down there.

'Yeah. This way we won't have to see Dudley and his gang too!'

Of course, I was right. About punishment, I mean. But today could have been much more miserable for Harry. Now he could confide in me and tell me anything about his worries. Falling asleep, I thought, even if it was arrogant of me, that in a way my presence in this world brightened his life.

* * *

A/N: Another chapter. And no, she is not a horcrux. I just like the idea of talking to snakes. You can come up with your own explanation for her ability to talk to them if you want. I rather like my second theory, if you want to know. That's all for now. I didn't write anything else, so I'm not sure when the next update will be. Do review please.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I completely acknowledge that JKR created this world and everything in it. I only take some of her text to play, honestly^^'

Thanks AyleanaMami, HarryHermione22 for their reviews.

* * *

The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned us our longest-ever punishment. By the time we were allowed out of our bedroom again, the summer holidays had started. But I can't say that it was time spent being miserable. It wasn't lonely, because we were together in the room, food was brought three times a day through the cat-flap, installed there especially for such situations, there were no Dudley with his mindless followers and we didn't have to do any chores. So, you can say, it was our own vacation time if a little bit boring. After that we tried to stay out of the house as much as possible; we didn't want to encounter Dud's friends who visited him every single day.

Harry liked to wonder about the end of the holidays when we would be going off to secondary school and where, for the first time in our life, we would be without Dudley. He and I were going to Stonewall High (or so my brother thought and I indulged him), the local public school. Dudley had been accepted at Smeltings. The evening, Dudley paraded around the living room in his brand-new uniform, I think I burst my blood pressure, trying not to start laughing. Later, when we were safely in our room, we had hysterics while picturing our cousin.

The next morning though – when Harry saw and smelt our new uniform – I don't think he was in the mood for laughing anymore. My thoughts were exactly the same but I, at least, had the reassurance of knowing about Hogwarts.

We sat down at the table and waited for breakfast to start. Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in and wrinkled their noses; seems, like they didn't like the smell from our new uniform, too. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.

Then I heard the click of the mail slot.

'Get the mail, Dudley,' said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper. Huh, it was starting today, then.

'Make Harry get it.'

'Get the mail, Harry.'

'Make Dudley get it.'

'Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley.'

Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. I anxiously waited for events to play out. Uncle Vernon finished his newspaper and impatiently waited for letters.

'Hurry up, boy!' shouted Uncle Vernon at last. 'What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?' He chuckled at his own joke. Yes, what a great comedian.

Harry came back to the kitchen, staring at letters in his hands. He had a stunned, bewildered expression on his face. Yep, he was in shock. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, gave me my letter, sat down, and slowly began to open his yellow envelope. At the same time I examined my letter, while I still had the chance.

Ms. I. Potter

The Smallest Bedroom

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp, though I knew that there shouldn't be one. Turning the envelope over, I saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H. Hmm, I liked their style. I was ripped from my musings by Dudley's shouting.

Suddenly, the envelope was torn from my hands.

'That's mine!' said Harry and I in unison, trying to snatch it back. I was indignant. Even if I knew that this would happen, I still didn't like this sort of behavior.

'Who'd be writing to you?' sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.

'P-P-Petunia!' he gasped.

Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise. Pity she didn't choke.

'Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!'

Oh, what a Drama Queen! She knew that we were magical. She should have expected the arrival of this letters.

They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that we were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick and required to read these letters. Harry - and I, so as not to appear suspicious - demanded them too. Of course Uncle didn't abide our wishes and rasped for us to get out. Nobody moved.

'I WANT MY LETTER!' Harry shouted. He had quite a temper when he wanted to. Dudley was no better and yelled too. But it was enough for Uncle to snap out of his shock, shout at us and then throw into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, being the walrus that he was, so Harry lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor. I just waited; I already knew most of it and, if anything, Harry would retell me their conversation later anyway.

* * *

'So what do you think about all this?' asked Harry shortly after outlining Dursleys' discussion in the kitchen.

I pretended to think it over and then said, 'Well, it's strange. They knew where we sleep in this house and there was no stamp on the envelope.'

'Huh, you're right... Oh, and the letter was written on the real parchment! This is really odd. But who would send us something like this?' That question was bugging him, I could see.

'Dunno…' I faked confusion. 'Though from what you have said, Dursleys might know something. And I really doubt they will answer our questions.'

'Yeah… they won't…' he sat dejectedly for a moment, then stood up and started pacing. Suddenly, in a fit of anger, he kicked our closet and cussed. 'DARN!'

'Language!'

'Sorry,' he looked at me sheepishly, rapidly losing all his fight. 'It's just… If I opened the letter in the hall or hid it and waited till later, maybe…'

'Harry, there's no use wishing about what would have been. You'll just spend your time wallowing in self-pity. Not the best pastime, I tell you.' And considering that I lived with him and would have had to bear the most of it. 'And anyway, perhaps they will try to send them again. Who knows? So cheer up, bro!'

'You're right…Thanks, sis. What would I do without you?'

Seeing as I knew how it would have turned out, I wisely decided to stay quiet.

* * *

Next morning, Uncle Vernon made Dudley get the post. Of course my cousin, being the idiot that he was, had to read it out aloud, so the letter was wrestled out and we were sent to our rooms again.

Harry walked round our room, almost making me dizzy, until he spoke.

'Someone knows where we sleep.'

'Yeah…'

'And they seem to know we didn't receive our first letters.'

'Yeah…'

'Surely that means they'll try again?'

'Yeah…'

'And this time we'll make sure they don't fail. I have a plan.'

'Ye… Wait! No! I'm not participating in this!' I snapped out of daze.

'What! But why?' asked Harry, confused by my rejection.

'I decided that I don't care.' Well, I really didn't, since I knew everything already. 'And I have a feeling that we'll get them in time anyway. But feel free to try if you want.'

'_Fine_. I can do it without you anyway,' snipped offended Harry.

'Yeah, just don't wake me up.'

* * *

Obviously, the alarm clock rang at _six_ o'clock the next morning. And even if Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently, I was already half-awake. Uncle Vernon's scream woke me up completely.

Following few days were mildly entertaining. Harry was worrying about getting his letter, Dursleys were inventing new ways of destroying paper with Uncle Vernon showing new meaning of the word crazy and I was observing all this with passive detachment. Sometimes knowing things beforehand can be extremely boring.

On Sunday Uncle Vernon snapped, we packed – with me carefully concealing my handmade present for Harry from him – and travelled to the hotel.

On Monday, of course, new letters appeared and our Uncle drove us around again and finally, _finally_, discovered the shack on the rock.

As night fell, the storm blew up around us. Dudley was snoring on the sofa and his parents went off to the lumpy bed next door. Harry and I were left to find the softest bit of floor and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket. We cuddled together and sat there waiting for midnight to exchange our presents.

It became our own ritual, you could say. We would wait till late night for the next day to start and then trade our gifts for each other. They were often handmade, bearing in mind that asking Dursleys for money was equivalent to suicide. I was really anxious about this one. I put a lot of thought, time and some magic into doing this present.

BOOM.

The whole shack shivered and I was torn from my musings. Next to me Harry jerked and stared with apprehension at the door. Hagrid was outside, knocking to come in.

He knocked again, jolting Dudley awake. Then there was a crash behind us and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands and _this_ was much more frightening than anything else. I knew that his knowledge about weapons was quite limited – where would he learn about them? – and his aim couldn't be good either. So you see my alarm.

He shouted, trying to threaten Hagrid, but, as I knew, it didn't work. At last the door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. Harry pressed more closely to me.

Hagrid was very-very… well, giant. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard. He had kind eyes though.

He squeezed in, picked up the door and fitted it easily back into its frame. Then he turned to look at us all.

'Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…'

He is so no-nonsense kind of guy. Striding over to the sofa and scaring Dudley off, he gazed at us.

'An' here's Harry and Ivy! Las' time I saw you, you were only babies,' said the giant. 'Yeh look a lot like yer dad, thou' Ivy's face is more, er, womanly I say, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes.'

Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise and then tried to intimidate Hagrid. It didn't happen and the one left scared was him.

'Anyway — Harry, Ivy,' said Hagrid, turning his back on the Dursleys, 'a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on them at some point, but it'll taste all right.'

I wasn't sure that I wanted to taste his cake after what he said, but as they say, _it's the thought that counts_.

From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled two slightly squashed boxes. I opened the one given to me and found inside a chocolate cake with _Happy Birthday Ivy_ written on it in green icing. The same as Harry's then. I looked up at Hagrid and said thank you, while my brother asked him who he was.

Hagrid chuckled good-naturally and introduced himself, confusing my brother even more. He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm. He did the same to me, too.

Then he set fire in the fireplace, sat back down on the sofa and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, Harry and I silently communicating through eyes our confusion with the situation, though of course mine was feigned.

Hagrid passed the sausages to Harry and me. Seeing as my supper consisted of a bag of chips and a banana, they tasted good. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, my brother said, 'I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are.'

I sat in silence, letting events go their way. I decided not to take an active role in this conversation, leaving Harry to do all talking, and pretended to be shocked or overwhelmed or faked another emotion when there was a need for it.

At last, we were given our letters. I eagerly opened mine. It's not every day you get a letter from magic school, after all. It was addressed to Ms. I. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. I pulled out the letter and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Then I pulled another list, while Harry asked his question, prompting Hagrid to send an owl, and started to examine the equipment and books I would need to buy. Ending my reading, I caught the moment of Harry finding out true facts about the death of our parents. _Vengeful bitch, dropping such information without preparation!_ Squeezing my brother's hand to reassure him, I listened with rapt attention as Hagrid retold that Halloween night. I wanted to be sure that nothing was changed and no one came with some nonsense idea. Like – I dunno – that _I'm_ The Girl Who Lived. But everything stayed the same, _Thanks God_. All in all, dialogue stayed unchanged, only this time Harry didn't have doubts about being wizard, seeing as we have been doing small magic tricks for a while.

Lying later huddled together with Harry under Hagrid's big warm coat I suddenly remembered that we forgot to trade our gifts. Oh, well, there's always tomorrow, right?

* * *

A/N: Another chapter. Please, review!


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